It’s common knowledge that more than a degree, it’s where you acquired it from that matters. Now an “extensive” survey on management schools across the country tells us the same thing. Dun & Bradstreet India, a business information company which released a report on business schools of India on Friday, reveals that students from anonymous B-schools get a far less meaty starting salary than those who graduate from the premier colleges. In 2009, while graduates of top schools bagged an average annual salary of Rs 8.77 lakh, those from lesser known schools received Rs 1.93 lakh.

Classroom once again

The Indian manager is heading back to school. At the turn of the century, several top management schools of the country started preferring candidates with work experience for the Master’s programme. The trend has caught on, and currently one in three Indians has quit work in the pursuit of an MBA.
MBAs teaching MBAs

The survey revealed that 50% of the faculty in top Bschools are PhDs, whereas a majority of faculty in Type II and III schools are merely MBAs themselves. The study revealed that of the total faculty, 54% are full-time teachers and 38% are visiting professors. On the faculty-to-student ratio, the survey says that the best Indian B-schools have an average of 1:8.6 while schools in the lowest rung have larger classrooms with one faculty catering to over 13 students.
Lady managers

The skewed gender ratio in B-schools is slowly correcting. While females made up 40% of the 2007 batch, their population in class is now rising: female students enrolling in Bschools are growing annually by 7% as against an annual increase of 6% for male students.
Where are India’s management schools?

Traditionally, as most business activities were concentrated in western India, 39% B-schools established before 1990 were located in the western part of the country followed by the South and North. However, the liberalisation policy of 1991 opened up new avenues for businesses; consequently the number of management schools in the South and in the North rose significantly. Of all the business schools established after 1990, 41% are in South India and 37% in the North.